Self configuration and optimization of cell neighbors in wireless telecommunications

ABSTRACT

A mobile terminal assists in the updating of a neighbor cell list associated with a first cell of a wireless telecommunications network. The list comprises elements that identify other cells that have a neighbor cell relationship with the first cell. The mobile terminal comprises a radio transceiver; and a controller coupled to the radio transceiver.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/817,459, filed Aug. 4, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/746,155, filed Jan. 21, 2013 (U.S. Pat. No.9,432,889), which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/483,510, filed May 30, 2012 (abandoned), which is a continuation ofU.S. application Ser. No. 13/084,884, filed Apr. 12, 2011 (U.S. Pat. No.8,213,941), which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.11/773,752, filed on Jul. 5, 2007 (U.S. Pat. No. 7,957,743), whichclaims the benefit of International Application No. PCT/EP2007/01737,filed Feb. 28, 2007, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to self-configuring and optimisation ofcell neighbours in wireless telecommunications networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates a wirelesstelecommunications network, which support communication with terminalsin a number of cells (A, B, C, D) each of which is served by a radiobase station 2. Each communication cell covers a geographical area, andby combining a number of cells a wide area can be covered. A mobileterminal 4 is illustrated communicating in cell A, and is able to movearound the system 1.

A base station 2 contains a number of receivers and transmitters to giveradio coverage for one or more cells. Each base station 2 is connectedto a network “backbone”, or core network infrastructure (not shown),which enables communications between base stations and other networks.The example system of FIG. 1 shows one base station per cell.

An important concept in such a network is the cell and its neighbours.During a call a mobile terminal 4 typically is moved in the geography,and when so doing leaves a first cell and enters a new cell thatneighbours the first cell. The cell may be changed several times and theprocess of changing the cell that supports a radio link with theterminal is called handover. A list of the known neighbours, the socalled “neighbour cell set”, is important both for the network 1 and forthe mobile terminal 4 to enable reliable handover between cells. Thenetwork 1 can store information relating to a set of neighbour cells foreach cell in the system. Evaluation of the best cell for supporting aradio link with the mobile terminal is based upon measurements made bythe terminal on the serving cell and on other cells than the servingcell. The neighbour cell list is needed for mapping measurements andhandover decisions to a target cell identity and possibly applyingspecific parameters or rules for the target cell. It will be readilyappreciated that the cell boundaries are not sharply defined, but willin practice be somewhat blurred as the range of the base stations willoverlap with one another.

In existing systems, the mobile terminal, 4, detects and measures celloperating parameters for neighbouring cells by measuring on theirbroadcast channels. One measured operating parameter is a cellnon-unique identifier which typically consists of a physical layeridentifier such as a scramble code which is non uniquely assigned to thecell. Operating parameters also relates to the signal quality of theneighbour cell such as signal strength, signal quality and timinginformation. When the quality of a neighbour cell is considered betterthan the current serving cell, a handover from the serving cell to thechosen neighbour cell is executed by the network. The neighbour cellthen becomes the serving cell for the mobile terminal.

Typically in a WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) system,the mobile terminal detects Common Pilot Channel (CPICH) transmissionsfrom surrounding cells, in order to determine id (scramble code) andtiming information.

When the mobile reports the neighbour cell signal quality measurementsto the network, the cells' respective identities become important.Typically, cell identities are reused for more than one cell. The reuseof identities means that cells may be confused with one other, since theserving cell may have neighbour cells sharing the same identityinformation.

In the cells are also broadcasted unique cell identities. The uniquecell identity is carried on the network layer. Its main use is forspecial purpose terminals, that are used by an operator of the systemfor testing and tracing of problems in the network. The unique cellidentity is not repeated as often as the non-unique cell identity and ismore complicated for a terminal to detect. This is in contrast to thephysical layer, that is physical data needed for supporting the radiolink.

Since the cells' physical layer identifiers are non-unique, populatingand maintaining the neighbour cell sets can never be fully automatic.Human efforts are needed to resolve conflicts where the serving cell hasmultiple neighbours using the same non-unique identifier. A furtherproblem is handover failures owing to the candidate cell has beenincorrectly identified.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The aim of the present invention is to secure handovers to be performedto the right cell. It solves the problem with a method for a radio basestation or for a node controlling a radio base station serving a firstcell and comprises the steps of, receiving from a terminal a non-uniquecell identity of a second cell and a measure on the quality of thesecond cell, determining if the second cell can be unambiguouslyidentified by the information in a neighbour cell list, and if ambiguityin the second cell identity is determined, ordering the terminal toidentifying and reporting on the unique second cell identity, andassociating the non-unique identity with the unique identity.

In a first embodiment ambiguity on the second cell identity isidentified if the non-unique cell identity is not included in theneighbour cell list. The association is then made by including thesecond cell non-unique cell identity and the unique cell identity in theneighbour cell list. In a second embodiment ambiguity on the second cellidentity arises if two unique cell identities in the neighbour cell listhave the same non-unique identity. The association with the unique cellidentity with the non-unique cell identity is then made for the specificradio link with the terminal for a period. The period is typicallystarted with the signal strength of the second cell exceeded apredefined threshold value, and ending when a handover is performed orthe second cell signal strength decreases under a second thresholdvalue.

The invention also relates to a radio base stations or a nodecontrolling radio base stations and that is adapted for performing themethod.

The invention also includes a method for mobile stations that measuresthe signal quality on broadcast channels in other cells than the firstcell, detects the non unique cell identity on broadcast channels with aquality exceeding a threshold value, transmitting information on thesignal quality and second cell non-unique identity to the serving celland upon receiving a command, detecting the unique cell identity on abroadcast channel and transmitting the unique cell identity.

The invention further relates to a mobile station adapted for performingthe method.

An advantage of the present invention is that creation and or updatingof a neighbour cell list can be made automatically by the system basedon the measurements and cell identity information received from theterminals. Thereby, it is not necessary for humans to plan and maintainthe neighbour cell lists.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a cellular wireless telecommunications network.

FIG. 2 illustrate steps of method for a base station or a base stationcontroller.

FIG. 3 illustrate steps of a method for a terminal.

FIG. 4a is a block diagram of a mobile terminal.

FIG. 4b is a block diagram of a base station.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The basic problem of the present invention is to make a positiveidentification of a neighbouring cell that is ambiguously detected by amobile terminal. The ambiguity may arise when a cell, not previouslydetected, is reported by a mobile terminal, or when two or more cellsshare the same non-unique cell identity and the two cells. An ambiguitywill then arise on what cell that has been measured.

The problem exists in several systems, for example GSM, WCDMA andeUTRAN. In GSM and WCDMA a list of neighbour cells is created for eachcell in the system by a human or at least controlled by a human. In sodoing any collisions in the non-unique cell identities of the neighboursshould be detected and possibly solved by reallocating the non-uniquecell identities. It is cumbersome to establish and update the NCL(neighbour cell list) and the allocations of non-unique cell identities,especially when the capacity of a network is increased by the additionof further cells.

For WCDMA and eUTRAN it is desired that the NCL can, if not becompletely created automatically, at least be updated automatically bythe system based on measurements made by terminals on cells other thanthe cell serving the terminal. For that reason the present inventions isin particular important for the WCDMA and eUTRA, however, it may well beimplemented also in other systems such as the GSM.

The inventions will primarily be implemented in a network node thathandles the NCL and decides on handovers. In the eUTRAN this is the taskof the eNodeB which is a base station, in the GSM it is the BSC (BaseStation Controller) and in the WCDMA it is the RNC (Radio NetworkController) that handles the NCL. Both the BSC and the RNC have thefunctions of controlling the base stations and their operation on thevarious cells of the networks, and the term base station controller inthis application refers to a node having the functions of the BSC or theRNC.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the steps performed by a radio base station,2, or a base station controller. For facilitating the description onlythe base station, 2, is mentioned when describing the method. It shouldbe understood that the steps are alternatively carried out by the basestation controller. In the first step 201 a communications link with aterminal, 4, in a first cell is supported. The base station receives;see step 202, a report from the terminal on a quality measure and anon-unique cell identity of a second cell. Next, 203, the base stationretrieves the NCL to match the non-unique cell identity with a uniquecell identity. If, see step 204, the match is made without any ambiguitythe method is ended with respect to the second cell. If howeverambiguity arises in the match, the base station instructs, 205, theterminal to detect the unique cell identity of the second cell. The basestation receives the unique cell identity, 206, and in a last step, 207,the non-unique cell identity is associated with the unique cell identitywithin the NCL.

There are several reasons why the ambiguity may arise in the matchbetween non-unique cell identity and the unique cell identity. Thefirst, and basic reason is the second cell is not included in the NCL.Another reason is the NCL includes an indicator of suspected ambiguity.The indicator may have been added to the NCL prior to the method beingperformed. The reason may be handovers to the identified cell havefailed. The failure may be detected as terminals have re-establishedcontact with the first cell as serving cell during handover processes,or the target cell has not sent notification to the first cell asserving cell. A further reason for ambiguity is two or more unique cellidentities share the same non-unique cell identity.

If the reason for the ambiguity is that the second cell with its uniqueand non unique cell identities is not included in the NCL they are addedto it in the last associating step, 207.

The base station frequently receives, 202, reports from the terminal onmeasures made on other cells, and then not only the second cell. Whenthe base station has received, 206, the second cell unique identity asdetected by the terminal it shall not instruct the terminal to detectthe second cell unique identity when again receiving, 202, a qualitymeasure from the terminal, not even if the ambiguity in the NCL ismaintained. Therefore, the associating step, 207, shall associate theunique cell identity with the non-unique cell identity for thisparticular terminal for a specific period or as long as the signalquality of the second cell exceeds a predefined threshold. Theassociation with the particular terminal is not made in the NCL, insteada temporary NCL is used.

As long as the second cell unique cell identity is associated with theterminal, if handover to the second cell is decided it will be directedvia the associated second cell unique identity. Thereby the second cellwill be instructed to prepare a handover of the terminal, before theterminal itself is instructed to make a handover to the second cell.

In addition to the requirement of ambiguity in the match of unique cellidentity to the non-unique cell identity, the further requirement of thesecond cell quality measure exceeding a threshold value can be addedbefore the terminal is instructed to detect the second cell uniqueidentity. The reason for adding the further requirement is to avoidexpense of the terminal performing the detection. The unique cellidentity is transmitted from base stations at a much less frequentinterval than the physical layer identity. In order to receive anddecode this information, the mobile terminal 4 may have to shortlyinterrupt its communication with the serving cell.

Moreover, some filtering of the measurement data may be needed beforethe second cell is added to the NCL in the associating step 207. Forexample the second cell is not included until it has been reported bytwo or more mobile terminals, thereby avoiding adding a distant cellthat was detected under exceptional propagation conditions, for examplefrom a mobile terminal 4 located in an aircraft

Additionally in step 207, cell lookup maps the unique cell identity(UCID) to the address of the realizing node of that cell. For example,in LTE, this can be an ordinary DNS, mapping the cell identity to an IPaddress. The IP address in turn points to the RBS realizing the cell.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the steps to be performed by a mobile terminal.In a first step 301, the terminal is in communication with the firstcell over a first radio link. In the next step, 302, the terminalmeasures the quality of a broadcast channel transmitted in a secondcell, and detects, 303, the second cell non-unique identity as sent onlayer 1 communication. In a fourth step, 304, the terminal transmits thesecond cell non-unique identity, and quality measure over the firstradio link. The quality measure and the non-unique identity are tiedtogether in the transmission. In a following step, 305, the terminalreceives an instruction over the first radio link to detect the secondcell unique identity. Next, 306, the terminal detects the second cellunique identity as broadcasted on network layer. In the last step, 307,the terminal transmits the second cell unique identity over the firstradio link.

The terminal 4 scans the spectrum to find broadcast channels ofpotential neighbour cells. The ability to detect and measure a broadcastchannel depends on the sensitivity of the hardware in the terminaltransceiver and of the broadcast channel power relative to theinterference level. A further prerequisite for detecting the second cellidentity of the potential neighbour cell in step 303 may be added, andthat be the broadcast channel reception quality as detected in step 302,exceeds a threshold value. If the non-unique cell identity is notdetected, the second cell is of course not informed to the network, instep 304.

FIG. 4a is a block diagram of parts of a mobile terminal 4 that areessential for the present invention. The mobile terminal 4 comprises acontroller 42, a man machine interface (MMI) 44, a radio transceiver 46,and an antenna 50. The controller 42 of the mobile terminal 4 serves tocontrol communications with the base station 2 via the transceiver 46and antenna 50, over the air interface 6. This means the controller 42has the function of receiving control messages from the base station,and controls the operation of the mobile terminal in accordance with thecontrol messages. Data detected by the transceiver passes throughcontroller 42. The controller reads control information on the physicallayer. With respect to measures on other cells than the serving cell thecontroller 42 receives the measures on the reception quality andidentifies the non-unique cell identity. The controller further collectsand measures the associated non-unique cell identities and reports tothe radio base stations regularly. The controller is equipped with a CID(cell identity) detector 47 for identifying the non-unique cell identityin the physical layer information. The terminal blocks and functioningso far described are the same as for prior art terminals 4. However, thefunctioning of the controller is adapted for the present invention. Thecontroller has a request receiver 49, arranged for detecting a controlmessage from the serving base station on identifying the unique cellidentity of a cell of a non-unique cell identity. When such a requesthas been received, the controller 42, controls the transceiver 46 todetect data on the second cell broadcast channel, until the unique cellidentity has been identified. The controller 42 is equipped with a UCIDdetector that reads the information on the network layer, as receivedfrom the transceiver. The controller 42 controls the transceiver tocontinue detecting data on the broadcast channel until the UCID detectorhas found the unique cell identity. Owing to the unique cell identity isrepeated with long intervals, the identification of the unique cellidentity requires the transceiver to detect the broadcast channel for alonger time than if just the non-unique identity need be detected.

The CID detector 47, the UCID detector 48, and the request receiver 49are preferably implemented as SW modules, however, they mayalternatively be implemented in hardware or in a combination of the two.

Interactions with the user of the device take place using the manmachine interface 44, which can include a key pad, microphone,loudspeaker and display device, for example.

FIG. 4b is a block diagram of a base station 2 which communicate via anair interface 6. Only blocks essential for the present invention aredisclosed. The base station 2 includes an input/output (I/O) interface24, a radio transceiver 26 an antenna 28 and a controller 22. Thecontroller communicates with mobile terminals via the transceiver 26 andantenna 28 over the air interface 6. The controller 22 also communicateswith the rest of the telecommunications network via the I/O interface24. For this invention the controller also includes NCL utility, 21, astorage device, 27, a temporary NCL, 23, and a NCL, 25. The controllerretrieves the NCL for identifying the unique cell identifiers for thenon-unique cell identifiers reported by the terminals. These aspects ofthe base station are designed to operate in accordance with usualpractice. The NCL unit monitors if the match between non-unique andunique cell identity can be made without ambiguity. If ambiguity existthe NCL unity initiates an instruction is sent to the terminal for it toreport of the unique cell identity of the non-uniquely identified cell.When the unique cell identity is reported by the terminal, the NCLutility 22 controls the unique and the non-unique cell identity arelisted and associated with the terminal identity in the temporary NCL. Afurther condition for listing in the temporary NCL is the reportedreception quality is above a first threshold level. The NCL utility 22also controls the non-relevant association to be deleted. Typically thisis made when the signal strength of a cell on the temporary NCL hasdecreased under a second threshold level. Alternatively the data base 27with NCL and temporary NCL are located outside the controller andconnected to it.

Typically the controller will also decide on handovers from the servingbase station to a target base station serving the second cell, or whichof the other cells that temporary will function as second cell.

In an alternative to the base station described with reference to FIG.4b , the controller 22 is located in a radio network controller. Theradio network controller with internal controller is then connected toat least one radio base station transceiver. The functioning of theinternal controller 22 will then be the same as described in connectionto the radio base station.

However, base stations 2 and mobile terminals 4 which operate inaccordance with the present invention are adapted to carry out themethod of the invention as described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to6. It will be appreciated that the various functional units can beprovided by the controller 42, 22, or by other specific units in thedevices, or network 1.

Making use of unique cell identifiers (UCID) means that there isunambiguous information relating to the identity of the neighbour cells,and so confusion regarding those neighbouring cells is removed. Usingthe fast and low-resource demanding non-unique cell identity for most ofthe measurements, facilitates efficient resource usage within mobileterminals 4 and rapid handover to the neighbour cells. The mobileterminal 4 is only requested to retrieve the more cumbersome unique cellidentifier when a new neighbour is detected, or when an audit of therelation between the non-unique and unique cell identity seemsappropriate.

All cell relations can be continuously evaluated. Inputs to thatevaluation are mobile terminal reports and events, network events andoperator input. The result of the evaluation is that the cell or cellrelations will retain different properties. This can also be seen as thecell relation being in different states.

The major advantage of embodiments of the present invention is that itremoves the need for manual involvement within the process ofmaintaining neighbour sets. The operator can decide to fully neglect theconcept of neighbours and let the system take care of the neighbour celldefinitions.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A mobile terminal for assisting in theupdating of a neighbor cell list associated with a first cell of awireless telecommunications network, said list containing elements thatidentify other cells that have a neighbor cell relationship with thefirst cell, the mobile terminal comprising: a radio transceiver; and acontroller coupled to the radio transceiver and configured to, via theradio transceiver: engage in communication with a radio base stationserving the first cell; while in communication with the serving radiobase station, identify a non-unique cell identity based on signalsbroadcast by a radio base station in a second cell; measure a signalquality of signals broadcast in the second cell; report, to the servingradio base station, the identified non-unique cell identity and thesignal quality; receive, from the serving radio base station, aninstruction to detect the unique cell identity of the second cell; inresponse to the instruction, receive further signals broadcast in thesecond cell; identify the unique cell identity based on the furthersignals broadcast in the second cell; and report the unique cellidentity to the serving radio base station.
 2. The mobile terminal ofclaim 1, wherein receiving the further signals broadcast by the secondcell comprises interrupting the communication with the serving radiobase station.
 3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the furthersignals comprise data broadcast in the second cell, and the controlleris configured to identify the unique cell identity by receiving anddecoding the data.
 4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the uniquecell identity is broadcast less frequently than the non-unique cellidentity in the second cell.
 5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein:identifying the non-unique cell identity based on signals broadcast inthe second cell requires the mobile terminal to detect the signals for afirst time period; identifying the unique cell identity based on thefurther signals broadcast in the second cell requires the mobileterminal to detect the further signals for a second time period; and thesecond time period is longer than the first time period.
 6. The mobileterminal of claim 1, wherein the controller includes a cell identity(CID) detector for identifying the non-unique cell identity.
 7. Themobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller includes a unique CID(UCID) detector for identifying the unique cell identity.
 8. The mobileterminal of claim 1, wherein the non-unique cell identity is detected ina first layer carrying physical information.
 9. The mobile terminal ofclaim 8, wherein the unique cell identity is detected in a second layerhigher than the first layer.
 10. The mobile terminal of claim 9, whereinthe second layer is a network layer.
 11. The mobile terminal of claim 1,wherein the signal quality comprises one or more of a signal strengthmeasurement, a signal quality measurement, and timing information. 12.The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the reported unique cellidentity of the second cell enables the serving radio base station tolook up an IP address of a second radio base station that serves thesecond cell.
 13. A mobile terminal for assisting in the updating of aneighbor cell list associated with a first cell of a wirelesstelecommunications network, said list containing elements that identifyother cells that have a neighbor cell relationship with the first cell,the mobile terminal comprising: a radio transceiver; and a controllercoupled to the radio transceiver and configured to, via the radiotransceiver: engage in communication with a radio base station servingthe first cell; while in communication with the serving radio basestation, identify a non-unique cell identity in a physical layer ofsignals broadcast by a radio base station in a second cell; measure asignal quality of signals broadcast in the second cell; report, to theserving radio base station, the identified non-unique cell identity andthe signal quality; receive, from the serving radio base station, aninstruction to detect the unique cell identity of the second cell; inresponse to the instruction, receive further signals broadcast in thesecond cell by interrupting the communication with the serving radiobase station; identify the unique cell identity in a network layer ofthe further signals broadcast in the second cell; and report the uniquecell identity to the serving radio base station.
 14. A method in amobile terminal for facilitating the updating of a neighbor cell listassociated with a first cell of a wireless telecommunications network,said list containing elements that identify other cells that have aneighbor cell relationship with the first cell, the method comprising:engaging in communication with a radio base station serving the firstcell; while in communication with the serving radio base station,identifying a non-unique cell identity based on signals broadcast by aradio base station in a second cell; measuring a signal quality ofsignals broadcast in the second cell; reporting, to the serving radiobase station, the identified non-unique cell identity and the signalquality; receiving, from the serving radio base station, an instructionto detect the unique cell identity of the second cell; in response tothe instruction, receiving further signals broadcast in the second cell;identifying the unique cell identity based on the further signalsbroadcast in the second cell; and reporting the unique cell identity tothe serving radio base station.
 15. The method of claim 14, whereinreceiving the further signals broadcast by the second cell comprisesinterrupting the communication with the serving radio base station. 16.The method of claim 14, wherein the further signals comprise databroadcast in the second cell, and identifying the unique cell identitycomprises receiving and decoding the data.
 17. The method of claim 14,wherein the unique cell identity is broadcast less frequently than thenon-unique cell identity in the second cell.
 18. The method of claim 14,wherein: identifying the non-unique cell identity based on signalsbroadcast in the second cell requires the mobile terminal to detect thesignals for a first time period; identifying the unique cell identitybased on the further signals broadcast in the second cell requires themobile terminal to detect the further signals for a second time period;and the second time period is longer than the first time period.
 19. Themethod of claim 14, wherein: the non-unique cell identity is detected ina first layer carrying physical information; and the unique cellidentity is detected in a network layer.
 20. The method of claim 14,wherein the signal quality comprises one or more of a signal strengthmeasurement, a signal quality measurement, and timing information.